Earlier in February police received a complaint against the same family alleging they had left their rented flat stealing various items from it.

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her Portuguese holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in 2007.

Since her disappearance officials have issued digital images of what Madeleine might look like today as her parents Gerry and Kate have never given up the search.

Her disappearance triggered a worldwide search but her whereabouts remain a mystery.

Last month, police in New Zealand confirmed that DNA from a girl bearing a striking resemblance to Madeleine did not match the missing girl's.

British authorities asked for the sample after the latest reported sighting of McCann in New Zealand, nearly six years after she went missing while holidaying with her family in Portugal at the age of three.

New Zealand police said they had been contacted twice by people convinced the child was McCann, first in March last year and again on New Year's Eve, when she was spotted in the southern resort town of Queenstown.

They investigated the first sighting and were "absolutely satisfied" it was not the missing girl but obtained a DNA sample after a request from Operation Grange, the British police task force investigating the disappearance.